Passed in Full. What a fantastic day organised by Michelle Meek from CPD Solutions and facilitated by Exova Warringtonfire at their Dandenong Testing Facility. The day started off at the Atura Hotel function rooms with MC Mark Catchpole introducing some extremely informative speakers, as usual the riveting Dr Jonathan Barnett-Red Fire Engineers captivated the audience, Cathy Inglis-Brickworks Building Products and Brett Dundules Senior Technical Officer FPAA gave an update regarding the FPAA’s submission to the ABCB’s proposed draft 1 amendment to the NCC. Even I got to have a short natter, explaining the step by step, build-up of our façade test specimen.

Following lunch and a short bus ride to the lab, delegates were given a quick induction and tour of the Testing Facility. Unfortunately due to the short time span we were unable to secure the CLT Panels and were forced to go with the worst-case scenario of a lightweight 90mm x 45mm timber frame, R2 glasswool insulation batts and a standard grade 10mm plasterboard on the non-fire side. The frame and insulation were protected with TBA Firefly (Breathable) 6mm thick fire barrier stapled directly to the face of the frame, it was installed with both vertical and horizontal joints. This was overlaid with TBA Firefly (Breathable) Non-combustible Sarking, 35mm steel top hats were screw fixed through the TBA Firefly layers into the timber frame. Brickworks Inex 16mm façade boards were then screw fixed to the steel top hats, all horizontal and vertical joints of the boards were sealed using TBA Firefly Intusil WB fire rated sealant.

Although AS5113 utilises the BS8414 Test Method, the pass/fail criteria of AS5113 is far more onerous than the requirements of BR-135 and LPS-1852. We didn’t just pass the requirements of AS5113 we passed whilst protecting the worst possible scenario of a structural lightweight timber frame.